Grant Green - Blues For Lou
Released - 1999
Recording and Session Information
Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, February 20, 1963
John Patton, organ; Grant Green, guitar; Ben Dixon, drums.
tk.6 Look At The Girl
tk.10 Personality
tk.11 The Surrey With The Fringe On Top
tk.15 This Little Girl Of Mine
tk.24 Have You Ever Had The Blues
tk.28 Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying
tk.31 Big John
I'm Just A Lucky So And So rejected
Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, June 7, 1963
John Patton, organ; Grant Green, guitar; Ben Dixon, drums.
tk.26 Blues For Lou
Track Listing
| Title | Author | Recording Date |
| The Surrey With The Fringe On Top | R. Rodgers-O. Hammerstein II | February 20 1963 |
| Blues For Lou | Grant Green | June 7 1963 |
| Big John | John Patton | February 20 1963 |
| Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying | Joe Greene | February 20 1963 |
| Look At That Girl | Ben Dixon | February 20 1963 |
| This Little Girl Of Mine | Ray Charles | February 20 1963 |
| Personality | H. Logan-L. Price | February 20 1963 |
| Have You Ever Had The Blues | H. Logan-L. Price | February 20 1963 |
Liner Notes
ON June 6, 1999, I turned on the local jazz station and was treated to a birthday celebration of Grant Green's music. Within days, I received the biography of Grant Green — Rediscovering the Forgotten Genius of Jazz Guitar; and a call to do the liner notes for this unreleased 1963 Grant Green material.
A momentous week for me because I had been thinking about Grant a lot recently, specifically about our meeting in 1972. I was privileged to introduce Grant on his last Blue Note album — Grant Green Live At The Lighthouse; we did an interview and hung out after rehearsals preceding the date. The gig was an unforgettable party. So, to be able to become a part of the Blue Note liner note luminaries who have lauded the guitar genius of Grant Green is monumental to me.
Grant is joined in this session by his buddy organist Big John Patton and drummer Ben Dixon. They debuted as a trio on Donaldson's The Natural Soul album. And when you give this newly released material an earnest listen, you can feel just that in their playing.
The mix is a blend of jump, blues, cha cha, ballads, swing, R&B, and bop, including the compositions of Rodgers & Hammerstein, Ray Charles, Lloyd Price, Joe Greene, and the trio themselves. It was Lou Donaldson who had introduced Green and Patton to Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff. In Grant's biography, he speaks of this meeting by saying that he had been presented to the "Gods of Jazz who knew music and loved the business." So, it is fitting this CD be titled as a tribute to Lou.
"The Surrey With The Fringe On Top" has never been done as robustly as this. It's frantically boppish and full of interplay. Definitely not your Broadway rendition!
"Blues For Lou" was recorded four months after the rest of the material here at the end of a Donaldson session that is now available on his A Man With A Horn CD. The trio swings bluesily in that slow, funky groove that Lou always loves.
"Big John," in a finger-poppin' "Along Came John" pocket, is reminiscent of the gospel song "This Little Light Of Mine." And do they ever shine on this one.
This is the most out-of-sight version of "Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying" since Ray Charles's. Grant leads off slowly and then boppishly swings with Ben's brisk brushes underneath. Then Big John makes his statement assertively. This is indeed my favorite on the CD.
"Look At That Girl" is boogie woogie, jitterbug, and jump all tied into one furious fling. You can see the swing dancers flipping and turning each other head over heels. Grant takes the girl and whirls until Big John cuts in, not to be outdone.
"This Little Girl Of Mine" is Ray Charles's soulful variation on "This Little Light Of Mine." This version moves to Dixon's tambourine stick rhythms with sanctifying testimonials by Reverends Green and Patton.
"Personality" is the '50s R&B hit, as sung and written by Lloyd Price with whom Patton was pianist for five years. It's done a little differently here as Grant and Big John sway together in a two-step mode.
"Have You Ever Had The Blues" was also a '50s R&B B-side hit by Price that was fairly popular down south and in the midwest. Dixon shuffles the tempo as Green and Patton rock steadily in their solos. Grant Green, Big John Patton and Ben Dixon were always soul mates when they recorded. Every album, be it a Green or Patton date, or backing up Lou Donaldson, Harold Vick or Don Wilkerson, had a musical magnetism between them that was unsurpassed. Alfred Lion captured it each time they stepped into Rudy Van Gelder's studio. It's too bad they never recorded live. It would have been a combustive, vibrational experience. I'll always remember what Grant said to me about his music, "I get a big charge out of playing, Ed. I strive to get that natural feeling — to be able to play anything. I put my soul in there; I always put some green soul in my music."
Whenever you listen to Grant Green's guitar on the recordings left for posterity, you'll understand why Lou Donaldson chose to bring him to Blue Note — he was a soulful natural on guitar. He was affable, personable, serious about his music, and dug the color green. It is my favorite color and I am happy to say I got a chance to meet and hear live a man who always played with a green heart of gold — Grant Green.
-ED HAMILTON, 1999
(Author of The Jazz Bass Clef)
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